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Mental health coaching and resources for teens and young adults ages 13-25

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Soluna | California's Mental Health App for 13 - 25 year olds

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Soluna is a free mental health service for 13 - 25 year olds in California. Chat confidentially with 1:1 coaches or explore tools. Download Soluna today.

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YG Staff Wellness Survey

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YG Parent Wellness Survey Spanish

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YG Parent Wellness Survey

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YG Student Wellness Survey 2

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Behavioral health coaching for parents, caregivers, and kids 0–12.

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Behavioral health coaching for parents, caregivers, and kids 0-12.

No costs attached. No insurance required. No referrals needed.

California cares. That's why California is paying for 100% of the care your family gets through BrightLife Kids.

Real coaches. Real simple. Really free - for all California families.

Families have questions. We have answers.

Infants & Toddlers

Coaching for new(ish) parents/caregivers

Learn how to build non-verbal communication skills, navigate milestones, teach toddlers how to share, solutions for separation anxiety, and more.

Kids

Coaching for kids and parents/caregivers

Develop more patience, encourage independence, solve sleep issues, support making friends and showing kindness, and more.

Tweens

Coaching for preteens and parents/caregivers

Manage friendships, stress, and social pressures, and learn how to navigate your tweens' growing sense of independence - together.

I often feel like a failure as a parent, but Brightline has been giving me hope that it can get better.

- BrightLife Kids parent

Our Mission

To help all kids see a bright future, we provide no-cost, expert behavioral health support for California families with children ages 0-12.

Our Approach

We make it easy for parents and kids to get the help they need with live coaching sessions via video, secure chat, and on-demand digital resources.

Our Care

Our bilingual coaches come from diverse backgrounds, have experience with LGBTQ+ and BIPOC populations, and are trained in personalized coaching.

What does BrightLife Kids offer?

What does BrightLife Kids help parents and caregivers with?

We are here to help you become the parents/caregivers you want to be. How? With a dedicated coach who communicates directly with you and your child to provide expert behavioral health guidance (along with on-demand resources). It's all yours - anytime and from anywhere.

Parents/caregivers of infants/toddlers ages 0-4 learn how to:

Identify "normal" development and when it's time to seek help

Help kids make friends and show kindness

Help toddlers work through frustration/tantrums

Build patience with defiant behavior

Get their kids to try new things, places, and foods

And much more

Parents/caregivers of kids ages 5-8 get help with:

Learning to express big emotions like sadness, worries, and anger in healthy ways

Encouraging age-appropriate independence and responsibility

Balancing alone time with social time

Finding organizational skills that work for your child

Eating healthy foods that are good for brains and bodies

And much more

Parents/caregivers of kids ages 9-12 partner with coaches to learn how to:

Set boundaries online/on social media (how to use it safely and reduce arguments about where/when/how much is okay)

Stay true to themselves when peer pressure starts

Build communication skills, manage conflict, and increase confidence

Manage relationships at home and friendships at school

Foster inclusivity and self-acceptance

And much more

Our provider really helped our son navigate his big feelings. She was kind and patient and provided many tools that he uses to manage his emotions on a day to day basis.

- BrightLife Kids parent

Frequently Asked Questions

Parenting is hard, and the stakes are high, and now I feel like I have a parenting coach. Improving my parenting and my relationship with my kids pays off in terms of my quality of life SO much.

- Brightlife Kids parent

Get the app

All clinical services are provided by licensed physicians and clinicians practicing within independently owned and operated professional practices. For patients in California, this is known as "Brightline Medical Associates of California, Inc." For patients in New Jersey, this is known as "Brightline Medical Associates of NJ, PA." For patients in Kansas, this is known as "Brightline Medical Associates of KS, PA." For patients in all other states, this is known as "Brightline Medical Associates, PA". Brightline, Inc. does not itself provide any physician, behavioral health professional, or other healthcare provider services.

© Brightline. All Rights Reserved. 2024

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BrightLife Kids - A CalHope Program by Brightline

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BrightLife Kids is a virtual mental health platform for California families with children ages 0-12. Support your kids' behavioral health and wellbeing with digital tools, resources and virtual support from experts in youth mental health.

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YG Student Wellness Survey Spanish 2

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Browse to find the perfect podcast for you and start listening now.

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Fifty Best Teen Mindfulness Podcasts For 2021. Latest was BONUS: High School Special Ed Teacher, Emily Ewin Helps Us Understand Our Teens. Listen online, no signup necessary.

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Trending SEL Podcasts For District Leaders

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Trending SEL Podcasts For District Leaders

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Select the perfect podcast series for you and start listening now.

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It can be hard to keep pace with the ever-evolving field of social-emotional learning (SEL). In 2020-21 alone, we've seen a surge of new research on SEL, updated guidance on systemic SEL implementation, and stories of the tremendous SEL work happening in school districts.

Whether you're looking to dive into the latest SEL research or learn from fellow education leaders, we've got you covered. Below, we've curated 10 popular podcasts that sit at the intersection of K-12 education, leadership, and social-emotional learning. Happy listening!

Register for Panorama's free, one-day Virtual Summit on Feb. 22, 2021 featuring keynote speakers Elena Aguilar and Dr. Tracey Benson!

1. District Leader: Transforming Education
What Is It? A weekly podcast dedicated to highlighting district leaders in public education from across the country. Host Luis Valentino, Ed.D., interviews a different superintendent in each episode. District Leader is a podcast about moving and inspiring educators to believe in the power of education, its leaders, and transformation. [Listen]

What Is It? Grow Kinder, a podcast from Committee for Children, is a first-of-its-kind podcast about social-emotional learning that features conversations with thought leaders in education, business, technology, and the arts who all have one thing in common: a dedication to growing kinder and helping others do the same. [Listen]

3. ASCD Learn Teach Lead Radio

What Is It? ASCD Learn Teach Lead Radio showcases conversations about the topics that matter in education today and that affect the success of each child-from leadership, to equity, to student engagement, to best practices for professional learning. Each episode features an expert guest from a variety of roles in K-12 and higher education. [Listen]

4. The CharacterStrong Podcast
5. Better Leaders Better Schools
What Is It? Join CharacterStrong co-founder John Norlin for quick conversations on school culture and leadership in K-12. The episodes range from eight to 20 minutes and often include guests such as practitioners, authors, researchers, and district and school leaders. CharacterStrong, a Panorama Playbook partner, provides curricula and trainings that infuse character and SEL into the daily fabric of any classroom or campus. [Listen]

6. The Bright Morning Podcast with Elena Aguilar
What Is It? The Better Leaders Better Schools podcast is for education leaders who challenge the status quo. Launched in 2015 by host Daniel Bauer, each episode includes a conversation with a thought leader in K-12 education and is designed to turn your commute, chores, or workout into a professional development session. [Listen]

7. Aspire: The Leadership Development Podcast
What Is It? The Bright Morning podcast, hosted by Elena Aguilar, explores the many ways we can cultivate courage. This is a podcast about listening, being fully present with other people, and living a fulfilling and meaningful life. In some episodes, Aguilar has conversations with guests who reveal the risks they've taken and the courage they've built. On other episodes, Aguilar masterfully coaches her guests towards fulfilling their life's purpose.
8. The Saracast: Conversations in Social Emotional Learning
What Is It? The Aspire podcast provides inspiration for individuals who are looking to build their leadership capacity. Each episode is an opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced and accomplished leaders in K-12 education. The goal: to help listeners grow in their leadership skills by learning from other leaders' experiences, successes, trials, and misconceptions.
9. EdLeader Podcast
What Is It? Hosted by Sara LaHayne, founder and CEO of Move This World, this podcast offers weekly episodes featuring researchers, scientists, educators, and experts in the field of SEL. Move This World, a Panorama Playbook partner, supports SEL through interactive videos, movement, and creative expression to help students, educators, and families develop emotional intelligence skills for long-term well-being.
10. Lead Change in Education
What Is It? Join Dr. Rob Jackson for conservations and reflections on improving educational leadership in the classroom, the boardroom, and beyond. This podcast embraces the ever-evolving role of a district leader and discusses how administrators can make a real and lasting difference in the lives of students, parents, educators, and school communities.

What Is It? Dr. Adam Drummond and Mark McIlmoyle interview school and district leaders to hear about problems of practice and to generate innovative ideas and inspiration. Each episode leaves listeners with practical ways to enhance their work as a change agent in the school community. [Listen]

Other SEL Podcasts We Love

Here are a few more of our team's top picks, including podcasts for children and families about social-emotional learning!

Shift Your Paradigm: This collaboration between Education Reimagined and TLTalkRadio focuses on learner-centered learning and learner-centered leadership strategies.

SEL Convergence: Fireside chats about the whole child and adult social-emotional learning.

Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning: A podcast for district leadership about implementing SEL backed by neuroscience research.

The Imagine Neighborhood: A podcast for families where listeners use their imaginations to talk about the things that matter most, with the people that matter most.

The Emotion Motion Podcast: Weekly episodes that help children put their emotions into "motion" through play and movement, while practicing skills like empathy, self-awareness, and mindfulness.

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10 Trending SEL Podcasts for District Leaders | Panorama Education

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It can be hard to keep pace with the ever-evolving field of social-emotional learning (SEL). In 2020-21 alone, we've seen a surge of new research on SEL, updated guidance on systemic SEL implementation, and stories of the tremendous SEL work happening in school districts.

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National Suicide Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ Crisis Text Line #741-741   “MHFA” in message box The Trevor Project #1-866-488-7386 TransLifeline.org - #1-877-565-8860 Domestic Violence Hotline - #1-800-799-7299(SAFE)  thehotline.org National Alliance on Mental Illness: www.nami.org International Suicide & Crisis www.opencounseling.com

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Creativity is important in assisting in relaxation. If you enjoy coloring or drawing, pause and take a moment to exercise that artistic creativity of yours.

You may discover that art is just your thing.

Relax your mind and get creative

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Send Feedback

To save, right click the thumbnail and choose Save Image As....

Drag colors to blend.

Press Space to start anew.

Press Z to undo.

Try different colors and symmetries.

Sally forth, you weaver of wonder, sower of silken waves.

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Can a neural network learn to recognize doodles? See how well it does with your drawings and help teach it, just by playing.

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Sketchpad: Free online drawing application for all ages. Create digital artwork to share online and export to popular image formats JPEG, PNG, SVG, and PDF.

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bomomo created by Philipp Lenssen 2008. IExplorer version by Nikolai Kordulla. Feel free to do anything with the image you create... it's yours!
Feedback? info@bomomo.com
Privacy: We use Google Analytics to collect traffic stats, and AdSense to show ads. We also use a Facebook Like widget.

Other sites of interest: Games for the Brain | bomomo Gallery

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"10 mins to highlight your day" Journaling prompt

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"10 mins to highlight your day" Journaling prompt

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Mindfulness & Acceptance workbook for teen anxiety 

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Mindfulness & Acceptance workbook for teen anxiety 

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Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Teen Anxiety

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as defined by the Collaborative for Academic Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) is " the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as defined by the Collaborative for Academic Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) is " the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

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California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project

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A series of free, evidence-based video and print resources that caregivers and educators can use to teach their kids critical mental health and coping skills.

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Multilingual Trauma Resources - Child Mind Institute

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Free trauma resources to aid parents, educators, and other adults in talking to children and adolescents about potentially traumatic events.

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 Articles Supporting our Children around School Violence

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 Articles Supporting our Children around School Violence

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Anxiety Over School Shootings

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Anxiety over school shootings has become a common fear in America. When something that once seemed unthinkable happens with some regularity, added to our feeling of horror that it's happened (again!) is another kind of alarm: Could this happen at my child's school?

And many parents have begun to worry whether the news of school shootings, along with the active-shooter drills most schools are now conducting, are frightening children in a damaging way.

Responding to this concern, Jamie Howard, PhD, director of the Trauma and Resilience Service at the Child Mind Institute, says that parents tend to worry about school shootings more than their children do. "Even though they're the ones going into school every day, I just don't hear a lot of kids worrying about it," she says. "When children are younger they're more egocentric. As they get to become teenagers this changes." This developmental selfishness is a quality that often protects younger children from the kind of anxiety that the adults around them are experiencing.

This is good news for parents who worry about their children feeling afraid. But kids are very good at picking up on the fears of their parents, and if they sense that Mom or Dad is afraid, they will take notice.

Psychologists sometimes describe anxiety as the body's internal alarm system. You want your alarm system to go off if there is a threat nearby. But sometimes the alarm is triggered too easily and you are alerted when there isn't any danger at all. Or maybe there is a threat, but it doesn't actually warrant a full-fledged alarm response.

The way school shootings are covered on television and discussed on social media is intense. We can hear about the tragedy throughout our day, often for several days, whenever we look at a screen. Besides making us feel upset and frustrated, it can also make us feel less safe. "Because it's so horrific and scary and important it dominates the media and therefore our minds, and we think of it as a much bigger threat than it is, explains Dr. Howard. "The more you watch, the more it tricks your mind into thinking it's an increased probability of occurring."

School shootings actually are not very common, so while they are a threat, the likelihood that one will personally affect you is slim. In Dr. Howard's words, "some anxiety is warranted, debilitating anxiety is not." If you feel that you are more anxious than you should be, a good first step is always to take a break from any media that might be focusing your attention in an unhealthy direction.

Because anxiety is meant to prepare us for action, it makes sense to channel the worries you are feeling into something proactive you can do. One of the things Dr. Howard recommends is forming a parent group at the school. Assessing what the school needs, getting involved in the planning process for drills, and having ongoing conversations about keeping the school safe can make worried parents feel better.

Likewise, participating in political activism or efforts to support mental health and wellness in your community can make you feel like you are making a difference. It also sets a good example for your children, who may want to get involved, too. Many of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School began lobbying lawmakers after the tragic shooting at their school, and they inspired students across the country to think about ways they might make their own voices heard. Participating in a school walkout or even just getting their opinion across in a conversation with a parent can make kids feel like their thoughts and values matter, which will feel reassuring.

Parents are sometimes afraid to bring up school shootings with their children, because they don't want to scare them. But children will have often heard about a school shooting that is getting a lot of attention in the media, and bringing it up can actually alleviate any anxiety they might be feeling. Avoiding potentially scary topics can make them scarier to children.

These discussions are a chance for you to answer questions that they might have and provide some reassurance. While you can't promise that their school will never have a shooting, you can in good faith tell them that school shootings are actually very rare and remind them that they practice drills at school to keep them safe.

If you aren't sure what to say, you can always ask your kids if they have any questions. Use common sense about how much detail to go into, and try not to use euphemisms or fuzzy language, which can make a young child's imagination run wild.

You can also take this opportunity to share important messages that you want to communicate. For example, Dr. Howard suggests saying, "If a classmate of yours is struggling, we don't do nothing. We don't gossip about them. We tell a grownup so they can get help." Or if your child is a teenager, and another student says or writes something scary, the same advice holds: they should let an adult know.

Most schools today practice active shooter drills. The goal of these drills should never be to scare children. Just as we don't use fake smoke in fire drills, schools don't need to use fake guns during active shooter drills. Schools who try to make the drills as realistic as possible risk scaring students (and teachers), and miss the point of these drills in the first place.

Schools have active shooter drills to get everyone used to their safety plan. "The more you practice something, the more you rehearse it, you lay the mental tracks so that you decrease the tendency to freeze in the case of a real emergency and you can go quickly into action," explains Dr. Howard. "In the military you do realistic drills because you really will be in combat, but this is a low-probability event. You just need to lay the tracks so you decrease those few seconds of reaction time."

When teachers (and parents) talk about the drills, they should do it with a lot of confidence. They should make it clear that school shootings, just like fires, are unlikely, but, says Dr. Howard, "We are going to be ready if it happens. This is what we're going to do to stay safe."

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How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings - Child Mind Institute

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Finding proactive ways to deal with anxiety over school shootings. What to say to kids who might be feeling worried, and what to do about your own anxiety.

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Helping Children Cope With Frightening News - Child Mind Institute

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When tragedy strikes, as parents you find yourself doubly challenged: to process your own feelings of grief and distress, and to help your children do the same.

I wish I could tell you how to spare your children pain, when they've lost friends or family members, and fear, when disturbing events occur, especially when they're close to home. I can't do that, but what I can do is share what I've learned about how to help children cope and process disturbing events in the healthiest way.

As a parent, you can't protect you children from grief, but you can help them express their feelings, comfort them, help them feel safer, and teach them how to deal with fear. By allowing and encouraging them to express their feelings, you can help them build healthy coping skills that will serve them well in the future, and confidence that they can overcome adversity.

When something happens that will get wide coverage, my first and most important suggestion is that you don't delay telling your children about what's happened: It's much better for the child if you're the one who tells them. You don't want them to hear from some other child, a television news report, or the headlines on the front page of the New York Post. You want to be able to convey the facts, however painful, and set the emotional tone.

Invite them to tell you anything they may have heard about the tragedy, and how they feel. Give them ample opportunity to ask questions. You want to be prepared to answer (but not prompt) questions about upsetting details. Your goal is to avoid encouraging frightening fantasies.

It's okay to let your child know if you're sad, but if you talk to your child about a traumatic experience in a highly emotional way, then they will likely absorb your emotion and very little else. If, on the other hand, you remain calm, they are likely to grasp what's important: that tragic events can upset our lives, even deeply, but we can learn from bad experiences and work together to grow stronger.

Talking about death is always difficult, but a tragic accident or act of violence is especially tough because of how egocentric children are: they're likely to focus on whether something like this could happen to them. So it's important to reassure your child about how unusual this kind of event is, and the safety measures that have been taken to prevent this kind of thing from happening to them. You can also assure them that this kind of tragedy is investigated carefully, to identify causes and help prevent it from happening again. It's confidence-building for kids to know that we learn from negative experiences.

In your conversation (and subsequent ones) you can suggest ways your child might remember those they've lost: draw pictures or tell stories about things you did together. If you're religious, going to church or synagogue could be valuable.

Don't volunteer too much information, as this may be overwhelming. Instead, try to answer your child's questions. Do your best to answer honestly and clearly. It's okay if you can't answer everything; being available to your child is what matters. Difficult conversations like this aren't over in one session; expect to return to the topic as many times as your child needs to come to terms with this experience.

If your child is upset, just spending time with them may make them feel safer. Children find great comfort in routines, and doing ordinary things together as a family may be the most effective form of healing.

Drawing pictures, planting a tree, or sharing stories can all be good, positive ways to help provide closure to a child. It's important to assure your child that a person continues to live on in the hearts and minds of others. Doing something to help others in need can be very therapeutic: it can help children not only feel good about themselves but learn a very healthy way to deal with grief.

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Helping Children Cope With Frightening News - Child Mind Institute

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How to talk to children about upsetting or frightening news to help them cope in the healthiest possible way.

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Children Hear the Message of the Gun

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What must our children think?

Again and again, a terrible spree of gunfire takes 10, 20, 50 lives. The nation flirts with addressing the elephant in the room - the gun - but as the shocking pain subsides, we retreat to a stalemate.

What must our children think? They must think it's open season. They must think we are lying when we say we want to keep them safe. Our inaction makes battlegrounds out of their high schools, colleges, elementary schools, and churches. The concert venues, shopping centers, and downtowns that are the rhythm and the backbone of everyday life in America are battlefields, too. And they all have names: Columbine, Parkland, Virginia Tech, Newtown. Charleston, Las Vegas, El Paso, Buffalo. And now Uvalde.

When we fail to act on gun violence, we model a repugnantly un-American attitude: that there is nothing to be done. This should ring false to the nation that has confronted a Great Depression, cured polio, taken away the death sentence of childhood leukemia, and saved 50,000 lives thanks to automobile safety innovations like airbags. That America is defined by innovation, compassion and stick-to-itiveness.

Instead of bringing these qualities to bear on our national shame of gun violence, we blame "mental health." As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and the founder of the nonprofit Child Mind Institute, I can see my field being used as a scapegoat and a cop-out in the fight over gun policy. What everyone needs to know is that people with psychiatric disorders are no more likely to be violent than the general population.

The best way to support the health of our children, both physical and mental, is to save them from being killed and to give them a country where they can feel safe and cared-for. We can reduce the constant trauma of violence in their towns and cities. How? We must call on our political leaders, who have failed children and families, to do their duty and institute basic gun safety for every purchase: age limits, universal background checks, and screenings for violent or erratic behavior. Anything else is unacceptable and un-American.

If lawmakers are serious about children's health, I call on them to make this statement: Guns are a method of death. Here are the statistics: According to research at Boston University and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, states with fewer guns have fewer gun deaths. Gun death rates are lowest in states that score high marks on restrictive gun legislation.

If the federal government won't act, then our local, municipal and state governments must take the mantle. Mayors need to make their cities safe for children. Governors need to make their states safe. If you want our children safe, I encourage you to contact your representatives and appointed officials at all levels and call on them to acknowledge the dangers of guns.

The most important risk factor for violence isn't a mental health disorder. It's the presence of firearms. A gun in the home is linked to gun violence. I'll go further: All our children are in a house with a gun, and it's called America. We must institute universal background checks and screenings for violent or erratic behavior. Otherwise we are telling our children that we cannot come together to find solutions. And that we don't mean what we say when we say our children are the most important thing to us.

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What must our children think? Again and again, a terrible spree of gunfire takes 10, 20, 50 lives. The nation flirts with addressing the elephant in the room - the gun - but as the shocking pain subsides, we retreat to a stalemate. What must our children think?

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Site: Greater Good

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Angst is a film-based social emotional learning program, endorsed by educators, psychiatrists and mental health advocates, to raise awareness about anxiety

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Mental Health America is the nation's leading national nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of mental health, well-being, and condition prevention.

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Site: Suicide Prevention Life Line
Phone: 1(800)273-8255

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Crisis Text Line | Text HOME To 741741 free, 24/7 Crisis Counseling

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Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. We're here for everything: anxiety, depression, suicide, school. Text HOME to 741741.

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SEL and Youth Suicide Prevention | Committee for Children

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Learn how you can make a difference to help in youth suicide prevention and also how social-emotional learning can help prevent it.

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https://www.mindoutloud.org/studentreps

Mind Out Loud boldly discusses mental health on a school level and how to make the learning place better for all students.
Mind Out Loud Inspires Students to Live Authentic Lives

Interested in being a student representative for your school?

Mind Out Loud Student Reps are high school students who work towards raising mental health awareness, ending stigma, educating peers about suicide prevention, and advocating for the mental health and wellness of students.

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If you're interested in the 2023-2024 Mind Out Loud Student Rep Program, please fill out the interest form below.

Student Reps serve as ambassadors for the Mind Out Loud movement, including the online student event. Mind Out Loud Student Reps come together to create a safe, inclusive environment allowing students to boldly discuss mental health and inspire others to live authentic lives.

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If you're interested in the 2023-2024 Mind Out Loud Student Rep Program, please fill out the interest form below. Student Reps serve as ambassadors for the Mind Out Loud movement, including the online student event. Mind Out Loud Student Reps come together to create a safe, inclusive environment allowing students to boldly discuss mental health and inspire others to live authentic lives.

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

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Site: SAMHSA

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Northern County Consortium CoP Info and Dates

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Northern County Consortium CoP Info and Dates

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The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions

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One Pager - Brief Overview
Expanded Document - In Depth

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Open and play on Spotify to listen to entire series.

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Listen to Everyday SEL on Spotify. By educators, for educators. Everyday SEL is an exploration of how educators wrestle with the research, best practices, and everyday struggles to meet the ever-changing needs of our students and families, and how our relationships are central to student learning.

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CASEL SEL Framework

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CDE Social Emotional Learning Newsletter

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CASEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook

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Transformative SEL as a Lever for Equity and Social Justice

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The Mission of Social Emotional Learning is improving academic and behavioral outcomes by promoting equitable and inclusive learning environments.

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What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

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What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

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CASEL defines Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as, “An integral part of education and human development. The process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”

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Email: Huma.khaliqi@yubacoe.k12.ca.us
Phone: (530) 749-4995

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Prevention Specialist - Kaitlin Patterson

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Prevention Specialist - Kaitlin Patterson

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Email : kaitlin.patterson@yubacoe.k12.ca.us
Phone:  (530) 749-4947

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Email: samantha.duarte@yubacoe.k12.ca.us
Phone: (530) 749-4946

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Social Emotional Learning Alliance for CA

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Social Emotional Learning Alliance for CA

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SEL4CA

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Site: CA Health Education

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Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

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Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

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Site: CASEL

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Lessons facilitated by SEL master teacher and School-Connect co-author, R. Keeth Matheny (also known as "Coach Rudy". All S-C Digital Solution subscriptions include a LIVE one-hour webinar for educators with Keeth.

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social emotional learning middle and high school curriculum

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School-Connect has been leading the way for social emotional learning (SEL) in high schools since 2006. Curriculum includes 80+ engaging and evidenced-based lessons co-written by Kathy Beland, Julea Douglass, and R. Keeth Matheny.

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Sutter - Yuba Behavioral Health

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Mobile Access Hub (MAH)

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Mindfulness is a way of being present in each moment, noticing what you are experiencing—with compassion and without judgement.
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment.
Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.

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Mindfulness-based programs in schools can have a life-long impact on the psychological, social, and cognitive well-being of children and teens.

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25 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Children & Teens (+Tips!)

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Fun mindfulness activities for kids to teach them about mindfulness. Enjoy!

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"Should we prioritize academics or social-emotional learning in schools?” is a firm, “Yes to both.” Academic skills are of course essential for children’s lifelong success. But without intentional social-emotional development, students may not learn how to process their emotions and connect with others in healthy ways. That’s where mindfulness can come in.

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Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom - Waterford.org

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Use these 51 mindfulness activities to help children recognize and manage their thoughts, emotions, and actions—all important SEL skills.

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51 Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom

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Daily mindfulness for students: 6 activities 

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Mindfulness Activities for the Classroom

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Mindfulness Activities for the Classroom

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In the classroom, mindfulness helps develop a common language among teacher and students that can be used to work through moments of student stress or anxiety.

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Daily mindfulness for students: 6 activities - EF United States

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At a time when school and home pressures mean it’s not uncommon to see signs of stress amongst students, mindfulness has taken an important role in helping young learners move forward positively. But what is mindfulness? Essentially, mindfulness is a way of being present in each moment, noticing wha…

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22 Mindfulness Exercises, Techniques & Activities  (+ PDF's)

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Check out all of these Mindful Exercises, Techniques and Activities, pick some out and try it out today.

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21 Mindfulness Exercises & Activities For Adults (+ PDF)

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Mindfulness exercises for adults and practitioners to learn more about it.

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Your day-to-day activities offer ample opportunities to call up mindfulness in any moment. These simple practices will breathe space into your daily routines.

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Your day-to-day activities offer ample opportunities to call up mindfulness in any moment. These simple practices will breathe space into your daily routines.

How often have you rushed out the door and into your day without even thinking about how you'd like things to go? Before you know it, something or someone has rubbed you the wrong way, and you've reacted automatically with frustration, impatience, or rage-in other words, you've found yourself acting in a way you never intended.

You don't have to be stuck in these patterns. Pausing to practice mindfulness for just a few minutes at different times during the day can help your days be better, more in line with how you'd like them to be.

Explore these five daily practices for bringing more mindfulness into your life:

Intention refers to the underlying motivation for everything we think, say, or do. From the brain's perspective, when we act in unintended ways, there's a disconnect between the faster, unconscious impulses of the lower brain centers and the slower, conscious, wiser abilities of the higher centers like the pre-frontal cortex.

Given that the unconscious brain is in charge of most of our decision-making and behaviors, this practice can help you align your conscious thinking with a primal emotional drive that the lower centers care about. Beyond safety, these include motivations like reward, connection, purpose, self-identity and core values.

Setting an intention -keeping those primal motivations in mind-helps strengthen this connection between the lower and higher centers. Doing so can change your day, making it more likely that your words, actions and responses- especially during moments of difficulty-will be more mindful and compassionate.

This practice is best done first thing in the morning, before checking phones or email.

1. On waking, sit in your bed or a chair in a relaxed posture. Close your eyes and connect with the sensations of your seated body. Make sure your spine is straight, but not rigid.

2. Take three long, deep, nourishing breaths- breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Then let your breath settle into its own rhythm, as you simply follow it in and out, noticing the rise and fall of your chest and belly as you breathe.

3. Ask yourself: "What is my intention for today?" Use these prompts to help answer that question, as you think about the people and activities you will face. Ask yourself:
How might I show up today to have the best impact? What quality of mind do I want to strengthen and develop? What do I need to take better care of myself? During difficult moments, how might I be more compassionate to others and myself? How might I feel more connected and fulfilled?
4. Set your intention for the day. For example, "Today, I will be kind to myself; be patient with others; give generously; stay grounded; persevere; have fun; eat well," or anything else you feel is important.

5. Throughout the day, check in with yourself. Pause, take a breath, and revisit your intention. Notice, as you become more and more conscious of your intentions for each day, how the quality of your communications, relationships, and mood shifts.

It's easy enough to reduce eating to a sensation of bite, chew, and swallow. Who hasn't eaten a plateful of food without noticing what they're doing? Yet eating is one of the most pleasurable experiences we engage in as human beings, and doing it mindfully can turn eating into a far richer experience, satisfying not just the need for nutrition, but more subtle senses and needs. When we bring our full attention to our bodies and what we are truly hungry for, we can nourish all our hungers. Try this:

1. Breathe before eating. We often move from one task right to the other without pausing or taking a breath. By pausing, we slow down and allow for a more calm transition to our meals. Bring your attention inward by closing your eyes, and begin to breathe slowly in and out of your belly for eight to 10 deep breaths before you start your meal.

2. Listen to your body. After breathing, bring your awareness to the physical sensations in your belly. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being that you don't feel any physical sensation of hunger and 10 being that you feel very hungry, ask yourself "How hungry am I?" What physical sensations tell you that you are hungry or not hungry (emptiness in stomach, shakiness, no desire to eat, stomach growling, etc.)? Try not to think about when you last ate or what time it is, and really listen to your body, not your thoughts.

3. Eat according to your hunger. Now that you are more in touch with how hungry you are, you can more mindfully choose what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. This simple practice can help you tune in to your real needs.

4. Practice peaceful eating. At your next meal, slow down and continue to breathe deeply as you eat. It's not easy to digest or savor your food if you aren't relaxed.

5. If you don't love it, don't eat it. Take your first three bites mindfully, experience the taste, flavors, textures, and how much enjoyment you are receiving from a certain food. Make a mindful choice about what to eat based on what you really enjoy.

It's estimated that 95% of our behavior runs on autopilot-something I call "fast brain." That's because neural networks underlie all of our habits, reducing our millions of sensory inputs per second into manageable shortcuts so we can function in this crazy world. These default brain signals are like signaling superhighways, so efficient that they often cause us to relapse into old behaviors before we remember what we meant to do instead.

Mindfulness is the exact opposite of these processes; it's slow brain. It's executive control rather than autopilot, and enables intentional actions, willpower, and decisions. But that takes some practice. The more we activate the slow brain, the stronger it gets. Every time we do something deliberate and new, we stimulate neuroplasticity, activating our grey matter, which is full of newly sprouted neurons that have not yet been groomed for the fast brain.

But here's the problem. While my slow brain knows what is best for me, my fast brain is causing me to shortcut my way through life. So how can we trigger ourselves to be mindful when we need it most? This is where the notion of "behavior design" comes in. It's a way to put your slow brain in the driver's seat. There are two ways to do that-first, slowing down the fast brain by putting obstacles in its way, and second, removing obstacles in the path of the slow brain, so it can gain control.

Shifting the balance to give your slow brain more power takes some work, though. Here are some ways to get started.

1. Trip over what you want to do. If you intend to do some yoga or to meditate, put your yoga mat or your meditation cushion in the middle of your floor so you can't miss it as you walk by.

2. Refresh your triggers regularly. Say you decide to use sticky notes to remind yourself of a new intention. That might work for about a week, but then your fast brain and old habits take over again. Try writing new notes to yourself; add variety or make them funny so they stick with you longer.

3. Create new patterns. You could try a series of "If this, then that" messages to create easy reminders to shift into slow brain. For instance, you might come up with, "If office door, then deep breath," as a way to shift into mindfulness as you are about to start your workday. Or, "If phone rings, take a breath before answering." Each intentional action to shift into mindfulness will strengthen your slow brain.

Riding a bike, lifting weights, sweating it out on a treadmill-what do such exercises have in common? For one thing, each can be a mindfulness practice. Whatever the physical activity-dancing the Tango, taking a swim-instead of simply working out to burn calories, master a skill, or improve condition, you can move and breathe in a way that not only gets your blood pumping and invigorates every cell in your body, but also shifts you from feeling busy and distracted to feeling strong and capable.

Ready? The following steps, good for any activity, will help you synchronize body, mind, and nervous system. As you do, you will strengthen your capacity to bring all of your energy to the task at hand.

1. Be clear about your aim. As you tie your laces or pull on your gardening gloves, bring purpose to your activity by consciously envisioning how you want your guide your session. As you climb on your bike you might say, "I am going to breathe deeply and notice the sensation of the breeze and the sun and the passing scenery." As you enter the pool, you might say, "I'm going to pay attention to each stroke, and the sound and feel of the water surrounding me."

2. Warm up (5 minutes). Try any simple moves- jumping jacks, stretching- and concentrate on matching the rhythm of your breath to your movement. By moving rhythmically, your brain activity, heart rate, and nervous system begin to align and stabilize.

3. Settle into a rhythm (10 to 15 minutes). Pick up the intensity, but continue to coordinate your breath and movement. If you have trouble doing this, then simply focus on your breathing for a few minutes. Eventually you'll find your groove.

4. Challenge yourself (10 to 15 minutes). Try faster speed, more repetitions, or heavier weights, depending on what you are doing. Notice how alert and alive you feel when pushing yourself.

5. Cool down (5 minutes). Steadily slow down your pace until you come to a standstill. Notice the way your body feels. Drink in your surroundings.

6. Rest (5 minutes). Quietly recognize the symphony of sensations flowing in and around you. Practice naming what you feel and sense. Chances are you'll feel awake and alive from head to toe.

There's nothing like heavy traffic and impatient drivers to trigger the "fight or flight" response. That's why road rage erupts and stress levels soar, while reason is overrun. The worse the traffic, the worse the stress. Los Angeles, where I live, has some of the worst traffic around, and some of the most unserene drivers. Emotions run high, tempers flare, tires squeal.

But it doesn't have to be like that. In fact, the snarliest traffic jam can provide an excellent opportunity to build your mindfulness muscle, increase your sense of connection to others, and restore some balance and perspective.

Here are the steps to a simple behind-the-wheel practice I've been doing for a while. I've found it can work wonders.

1. First, take a deep breath. This simple, yet profound advice helps bring more oxygen into your body and widens the space between the stimulus of the traffic and your heightened stress reaction. In this space lies perspective and choice.

2. Ask yourself what you need. It may be in that moment that you need to feel safe, at ease or you just need some relief. Understanding what you need will bring balance.

3. Give yourself what you need. If ease is what you need, you can scan your body for any tension (not a bad thing to do while driving in any case) and soften any tension or adjust your body as needed. You can sprinkle in some phrases of self-compassion, such as, "May I be at ease, may I feel safe, may I be happy."

4. Look around and recognize that all the other drivers are just like you. Everyone on the road wants the same thing you do-to feel safe, have a sense of ease, and to be happy. Chances are you'll see a number of fellow drivers who look a bit agitated, but you might also catch that one who is singing or actually smiling, and this will dissipate some of your own stress immediately. You can apply to all of them what you just offered to yourself, saying, "May you be at ease, may you feel safe, may you be happy."

5. Take another deep breath. In 15 seconds or less, you can turn around your mood by applying these simple tips. When you feel the frustration of traffic rising, choose whatever you need to work on, and offer that condition to others. If you need to feel safe, say, "May I be safe, may you be safe, may we all be safe." Breathe in, breathe out, you've sowed a seed of happiness.
This article also appeared in the April 2016 issue of Mindful magazine.

Six steps to add meditation and awareness to your daily routine. Read More

Feeling overwhelmed? Too busy to function? Here are five opportunities to pause, recharge your batteries, and stay on top of your game. Read More

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Parneet Pal, Carley Hauck, Elisha Goldstein, Kyra Bobinet, Cara Bradley

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5 Simple Mindfulness Practices for Daily Life

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Your day-to-day activities offer ample opportunities to call up mindfulness in any moment. These simple practices will breathe space into your daily routines.

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See how mindfulness helps you live in the moment.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

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If you've heard of or read about mindfulness meditation - also known as mindfulness - you might be curious about how to practice it. Find out how to do mindfulness exercises and how they might benefit you.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.

Spending too much time planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can be draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Practicing mindfulness exercises can help you direct your attention away from this kind of thinking and engage with the world around you.

What are the benefits of meditation?

Meditation has been studied in many clinical trials. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, including:

Preliminary research indicates that meditation can also help people with asthma and fibromyalgia.

Meditation can help you experience thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance. Meditation also has been shown to:

Improve attention

Decrease job burnout

Improve sleep

Improve diabetes control

What are some examples of mindfulness exercises?

There are many simple ways to practice mindfulness. Some examples include:

Pay attention. It's hard to slow down and notice things in a busy world. Try to take the time to experience your environment with all of your senses - touch, sound, sight, smell and taste. For example, when you eat a favorite food, take the time to smell, taste and truly enjoy it.

Live in the moment. Try to intentionally bring an open, accepting and discerning attention to everything you do. Find joy in simple pleasures.

Accept yourself. Treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend.

Focus on your breathing. When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help.

You can also try more structured mindfulness exercises, such as:

Body scan meditation. Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms at your sides, palms facing up. Focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body, in order, from toe to head or head to toe. Be aware of any sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with each part of your body.

Sitting meditation. Sit comfortably with your back straight, feet flat on the floor and hands in your lap. Breathing through your nose, focus on your breath moving in and out of your body. If physical sensations or thoughts interrupt your meditation, note the experience and then return your focus to your breath.

Walking meditation. Find a quiet place 10 to 20 feet in length, and begin to walk slowly. Focus on the experience of walking, being aware of the sensations of standing and the subtle movements that keep your balance. When you reach the end of your path, turn and continue walking, maintaining awareness of your sensations.

When and how often should I practice mindfulness exercises?

It depends on what kind of mindfulness exercise you plan to do.

Simple mindfulness exercises can be practiced anywhere and anytime. Research indicates that engaging your senses outdoors is especially beneficial.

For more structured mindfulness exercises, such as body scan meditation or sitting meditation, you'll need to set aside time when you can be in a quiet place without distractions or interruptions. You might choose to practice this type of exercise early in the morning before you begin your daily routine.

Aim to practice mindfulness every day for about six months. Over time, you might find that mindfulness becomes effortless. Think of it as a commitment to reconnecting with and nurturing yourself.

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Show references

1. Bystritsky A. Complementary and alternative treatments for anxiety symptoms and disorders: Physical, cognitive, and spiritual interventions. https://uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed June 14, 2018.

2. Seaward BL. Meditation and mindfulness. In: Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-being. 9th ed. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2018.

3. Shapiro SL, et al. The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness into Psychology and the Helping Professions. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; 2017.

4. Lymeus F, et al. Building mindfulness bottom-up: Meditation in natural settings supports open monitoring and attention restoration. Consciousness and Cognition. 2018;59:40.

5. Blanck P, et al. Effects of mindfulness exercises as stand-alone interventions on symptoms of anxiety and depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2018;102:25.

6. AskMayoExpert. Meditation. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2018.

7. Khoury B, et al. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2015;78:519.

8. Practice mindfulness and relaxation. Springboard Beyond Cancer. https://survivorship.cancer.gov/springboard/stress-mood/practice-mindfulness. Accessed June 14, 2018.

See more In-depth

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Engaging with the world around you can lower your stress. Here's how to practice mindfulness meditation.

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Mental Health and Wellness Tips for Today

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Together for Wellness- Mental Health and Wellness Tips for Today

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Mental Health and Wellness Tips for Today Hi! We've collected a bunch of resources to help support your ongoing wellness during these times. Choose a guide to get started. (everyone gives the same tour)

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Teaching SEL is not a solution for all of the challenges our students face. But there’s a lot we can do as educators to make a significant positive impact. It starts with our own social-emotional skills.

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When students have limited social-emotional skills, they're more likely to struggle when they face a new challenge or conflict. A lack of social-emotional skills can even cause kids to drop out.

Teaching SEL is not a solution for all of the challenges our students face. But there's a lot we can do as educators to make a significant positive impact. It starts with our own social-emotional skills.

Why your social-emotional skills matter

To teach SEL, we need to be aware of and continue to develop our own social-emotional skills as educators. Only then can we model and teach those skills to our students.

Learn more about the five core competencies, why they're important to our practice as teachers, and how you can model them in the classroom.

Identifying and expressing your emotions

Recognizing your strengths and challenges

Having an accurate self-perception and self-confidence

Practicing a growth mindset

Why self-awareness is important to your teaching

Have you ever been upset about a student's behavior, but paused to ask yourself, "Why am I feeling so angry?" You might have run through a quick series of responses in your mind before deciding what to say or do. That is self-awareness.

This response may have been instinctual. Or maybe someone taught you self-awareness skills: how to self-reflect, accurately perceive your feelings, and express those feelings to others.

It can be hard to maintain that level of self-awareness in a busy classroom. We're all human. We won't always be our best selves at every moment of the day. Embracing that reality helps us authentically engage with students, check our biases, question our own motivations, and pause to take stock of our decisions.

Ways to practice self-awareness in the classroom

Acknowledge your own emotions and how they may play into your reactions.

Name the skills you're using (or "think aloud") for your students as you model them. (It's important for students to recognize that you're still learning and practicing these skills, too.)

View students as partners in developing social-emotional skills.

Understand that it may take a little longer for some students to learn social-emotional skills as they develop self-confidence.

After you're aware of your emotions, then you can work on managing them. Self-management is the ability to regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behavior in varying situations. Self-management skills include:

Why self-management is important to your teaching

As educators, we're constantly using self-management skills to meet the demands of a high-stress job and manage life outside of school. So it's not surprising that we all struggle from time to time.

Using these same skills can be hard for students too, especially when you think about the barriers they face in and out of the classroom. Some students might have trouble managing the stress of "not getting it" when the curriculum isn't flexible for their learning and thinking differences.

The same curriculum may also not be historically and culturally diverse enough for them to see themselves represented in it. You might see students who appear to lack motivation or interest.

The barriers that students face can affect not only their readiness to learn, but also your own self-management. It's normal to feel challenged or stressed when you try to grow your classroom practice. It feels new and requires attention when time is short. Consider it an opportunity to build your self-management skills.

Ways to practice self-management in the classroom

What is social awareness?

Social awareness is the ability to understand other points of view, show empathy, respect diversity, and understand social norms. In many ways, social awareness is what helps relationships to thrive. It includes:

Why social awareness is important for your teaching

To maintain and build healthy relationships with students, we need to be aware of and respect other perspectives, values, cultures, and differences. Equity and empathy are both at the heart of this work.

One of the best ways to use social awareness with your students is to get to know them and their families. It helps you decide how to approach lessons, present content, react to student behavior, and more. It also allows you to create opportunities for students to bring their whole selves into your classroom. That is one of the best ways to show your respect for differing perspectives and life experiences.

Ways to practice social awareness in the classroom

Build a classroom community that values the collective good and concern for other people.

Create space and norms for you and your students to talk about how hearing a new perspective changed your point of view.

Ask for your students' feelings and perspectives on the classroom environment.

What is responsible decision-making?

Responsible decision-making is the ability to think about how what you do impacts yourself and others. You make choices about how to behave and interact, based on ethical and social standards and safety. Responsible decision-making includes:

Identifying and analyzing problems and situations

Solving problems as they arise

Evaluating and reflecting on the consequences of your actions

Taking ethical responsibility for your decisions and their outcomes

Why responsible decision-making is important for your teaching

As educators, we juggle decisions every day about workload, time management, and self-care. We all have different values, priorities, and experiences that impact our decision-making.

Because of the different factors that influence our decisions, it can be helpful to draw on colleagues' knowledge and experiences to make choices, like how to best support students who learn and think differently.

Decision-making is a big part of how we interact with students, too. We make choices each day about instruction and classroom management. We also make choices about how to help our students become decision-makers.

Remember that schools have their own set of values that influence decision-making. Many schools value higher education and may focus on sending graduates to college. Think about the decision-making process this requires of students. Imagine how difficult that process may be for students who would be the first in their families to go to college.

Your role in supporting students may be to acknowledge that their process may be very different from your own. Help them identify people with similar experiences who can serve as models.

Ways to practice responsible decision-making in the classroom

Recognize that students need your help to learn to become responsible decision-makers in developmentally appropriate ways.

Share with students your own process as you make decisions and explain the "why" behind them.

Seek out and provide access to diverse role models who have similar experiences as the students in your class.

What are relationship skills?

Relationship skills are the ability to build and maintain healthy and fulfilling relationships with others. Humans are wired for relationships, connection, and community. But these skills need to be developed. Relationship skills include:

Why responsible relationship skills are important for your teaching

Relationship skills help us connect with others. Listening skills, conflict resolution, and communication are important tools we use to navigate relationships.

Like the other social-emotional competencies, building relationships skills is hard work. You need to use the skills of self-awareness and self-management, and to engage with others in a meaningful way. Relationships also require a certain level of trust, vulnerability, and practice. Without practice, we often default to the emotions we are more comfortable expressing.

In the classroom, it can be a challenge for both teachers and students to build trusting relationships. But when it comes to modeling social-emotional skills, there's an added layer: You need to partner with students on building their emotional vocabulary so they can become agents of their emotions.

Students might struggle with expressing themselves, so they need your support. Being able to give and receive help is an important way to build and maintain relationships. It means not just seeking help in a time of need, but also being able to offer help to others. Many of us are better at offering help than we are at asking for it when we need it.

Ways to practice relationship skills in the classroom

Search for the "why" behind a student's behavior before responding.

Identify when an action wasn't appropriate. Provide an appropriate alternative action or response.

Acknowledge that these skills can be difficult to practice.

Find ways to practice problem-solving without actual conflicts, like role-playing.

Build in ways for students to reflect on their own thinking, patterns, and relationships.

Be an active listener and show students you are listening and responding to their feedback.

Plan classroom activities that focus on building trust and a sense of belonging.

As educators, we may not be able to control some aspects of our jobs. We may not be able to directly help with the many challenges our students face outside of school. But we can use our own social-emotional skills to make our classes a safe place where students know we value them, their families, and the experiences they bring to school.

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Social-emotional learning help students learn to manage emotions, make decisions, and solve problems. But social-emotional skills help teachers, too. Learn why SEL is important to your teaching and how it shapes your classroom.

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Wellness, SEL, and Yoga Teacher Training
Calling all Educators to Chill out and take a Breather.

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Over the past 7 years, Breathe For Change has trained 10,000 educators and changemakers through our Wellness, SEL and Yoga training, who are positively impacting the lives, learning, and well-being of 2 million+ students.
Learn about our research and impact.

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Yoga and SEL Training for Educators and Teachers - Breathe For Change

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Over the past 7 years, Breathe For Change has trained 10,000 educators and changemakers through our Wellness, SEL and Yoga training, who are positively impacting the lives, learning, and well-being of 2 million+ students. Learn about our research and impact.